The Unexpected Properties of Technical Terminology
by Laurus Nobilis
Summary: G1. When you're stuck in a tiny, boring moon, there just isn't a lot to do. Starscream x Skyfire fluffyness.


**A Study on the Unexpected Properties of Technical Terminology**

Starscream was in a bad mood. A very, very bad mood.

This whole thing was such a waste of time. Traveling all the way here just to find out that they couldn't safely enter the atmosphere… great, just _great_. Exactly what he needed after such a long trip. At least the planet had a tiny moon where they had managed to land without problems.

But that had been quite some time ago, now, and they still weren't making much progress. They had agreed not to return to Cybertron just yet; they had charts to work on, after all, and Skyfire thought it would be a good idea to analyze the atmospheric readings in a bit more depth while they were at it. So Starscream had sat down on the ground of that boring, _boring_ moon, taking note of the position of known stars and muttering to himself all the while.

"Now, don't be like that," Skyfire said, his voice as serene as always. "It's just part of the job, isn't it? Not knowing what we're going to find. It's what makes it exciting."

He was always like that, all calm and collected and optimistic. It was kind of adorable. Except for when it was _extremely frustrating_.

Starscream found himself very easily frustrated at the moment.

"Oh, yes, one of those amazing unpredictabilities of life. _Wonderful_. I don't even get someone to blame."

"How would _that_ help?"

"Stress relief?" he replied, shrugging. The shuttle chuckled at that (still in an unbelievably good mood, it seemed) and moved from his own spot to stand right behind him.

"Go away. You're blocking the light."

"I know what will cheer you up."

"Unless it's a way to enter the atmosphere without getting charred-"

"Actually, it is." Skyfire crouched and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, waving a datapad in front of his face. "Well, it's a start, at least."

Starscream stared at the datapad for a moment, then grabbed it to take a closer look. It _was_ a good start. Not that they could do much about it here, without the necessary materials to improve their thermal protection systems, but an algorithm like this would save them a lot of work back home.

"This is _beautiful_," he said. It was an elegant solution, as expected from someone like Skyfire, although he didn't seem entirely convinced.

"It might still need some tweaking. We should go over it, I think."

"Sure." He shifted a little, making himself comfortable against the other. This could take a while. The shuttle sat down properly at last, too, and took the datapad back from Starscream's hands.

"So, our main issue is the heat shield, of course," he began. He had that way of talking as if he was in class, sometimes, even when they both knew enough of the matter at hand that he could have skipped the introduction. It helped keep the explanations in order, he said. Starscream didn't have enough patience to bother with those things – but, then again, Starscream didn't have much control between his processor and his mouth in the first place.

Not that he minded listening to Skyfire when he was like that. Quite the contrary. He had such a soothing voice, it was a pleasure to hear him. And, when he talked about something he loved, it _showed_. Starscream suspected that it helped that they both loved the same things, yes, but even so; he could make even the driest of topics become fascinating. He sounded so confident, so passionate. And he looked so _focused_…

Starscream felt that he could just stare at him forever. Even if it strained his neck joints.

"And with the _d_issociation in the shock layer, that gives us – you aren't even looking at the datapad."

"No I'm not," he admitted, with a cheeky grin. "Tell me about that algorithm again?"

Skyfire shook his head, somehow managing to look both exasperated and amused. Apparently he had given up on any productive conversation, though – or maybe it was just that he'd caught on to the mood.

"Which part?" he asked, trying to look serious and failing very, very badly. "Interested in reaching peak heat?"

"And there's the issue of friction, too. That's important." He shifted ever so slightly, rubbing his wings against Skyfire's chassis, and got the sound of the shuttle's internal cooling fans kicking in as a reward. This was definitely going in the right direction.

… except that the now discarded datapad caught his attention again. He picked it up, tilting his head as he looked at one of the graphs.

"You designed it based on your shape, didn't you?"

"I figured I would take you. Or we could adapt it," Skyfire added, almost as an afterthought. "I'd have to take measurements."

Well, that made Starscream lift his gaze from the datapad.

"Is that so?" he asked, with a hint of a smirk. Skyfire was the very picture of innocence.

"Lots of very thorough measurements."

"By all means," he said, and by that point he didn't even try to pretend he was being serious. "Who am I to hinder science?"

"It might be time for a close inspection, then."

Oh, yes, the right direction indeed.


End file.
